An Engagement Ring
by RikaToruh
Summary: Sokka and Suki have been best friends since the start. Suki has always loved Sokka, but he’s in love with Toph. When Toph unexpectedly breaks up with Sokka, will Suki confess or help him get Toph back? AU, Two-shot
1. Part 1

An Engagement Ring

**Summary: ** Sokka and Suki have been best friends since the start. Suki has always loved Sokka, but he's in love with Toph. When Toph unexpectedly breaks up with Sokka, will Suki confess or help him get Toph back? AU, Two-shot

**A/N:** Squee!

(The 'him' in the beginning is Sokka, the 'she' is NOT Toph.)

**Ages:** Sokka, Suki- 23, Toph- 21

ATLA

She leaned in and kissed him_. _

He stiffened for a moment, _Toph._

Then he realized. He wasn't with her anymore; his destiny was tied to someone else. Was it her?

They'd been best friends for a while now…

Hesitantly, He obliged and deepened the kiss.

XXX

Suki's dazzling blue eyes popped open as the pulled apart. "So, um Sokka," She blushed, bright and red.

_Oh, just get it over with,_ she thought,_ fess up, and stop beating the bush._

Her eyes stared at her feet. "I'm really sorry about you and Toph. Getting broken up with is an crappy way to spend your birthday."

_Beating the bush._

"Mhm, Suki, it's fine."

Her mind was racing, "Sokka… you know how you've said we can tell each other anything, being such good friends and all?"

_Beating the bush._  
He nodded, and barely said, "Yup."

_Do it!_

"Well… I guess now's the best chance I'll ever get… Sokka, I l-"

"Hey Suki," He said, interrupting, eyes and voice dazed. "Do you wanna go to a bar?"

"Uhm…sure."

XXX

He slammed his glass down, "Give me another shot."

Suki set down her modest glass of sprite, "Sokka, is this really the right way to go about this?"

He looked over at her, scowling. "Yes. It is."

Normally Sokka was one of the loopy-smiling, stumbling-around, leaning-on-people-happily drunks, but in his condition, he was distant and depressed.

Suki placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Sokka. Hurting is part of a break-up, but that's no excuse for getting completely and totally wasted."

He scowled again. "Yes. It is."

XXX

Sokka exited his car and strolled down the walk. His pace was brisk and happy as he toyed with the ring in his pocket.

This was it.

He was going to ask her, for real this time though. Fantasies of the moment had occupied his thoughts the entire day. Him sweeping her up in his arms. A long, passionate kiss. Tears of joy streaming down her face as she choked out a 'yes'. (So that one was a stretch for her…but still.)

He knocked on her door; this was going to be _perfect._

His daydreams were crushed as she opened the door. His heart dropped at the sight of her pale emerald eyes flushed with red.

He whispered name, caring and unsure. "Toph."

She shook her head, tears forming in her pastel eyes, and the ring to slipped out of his fingers, back into his jacket pocket.

Still standing in the doorway, he grabbed her hand softly, cautiously. "What…what's the matter?"

She pulled it back, gripping the still-open door handle. "Sokka, it's…it's over."

"…Toph, Why?"

"My…I…can't. I can't."

She shut the door quickly and he walked back to his car.

He sat in the driver's seat, confused, frustrated, _hurt. _Tears clouded his vision and he pushed them back. She was done with him? Fine. He was done with her too.

XXX

Sokka wanted more to drink. He _needed_ more to drink. Because, it just hit him. Hard. A smack in the face, a blow to the gut, pure agony.

Suki had been giving him a matronly eye all evening, and still was. So instead of demanding more, he sat silent, staring at the empty glass in his hands.

"Why do you think she did it?" Sokka asked after sometime.

Suki looked at him quizzically. "Who…?"

"Toph. Why'd she break-up with me…?" He immediately jumped at her, "You're a girl Suki! You're supposed to know!"

She brushed his attitude off, "She…didn't tell you? Sokka, her dad made her."

"How do you know that? You're not even friends with Toph!"

"Good God, Sokka, It's all over the news. Her dad just got diagnosed with Lung Cancer and it's terminal. He wants her to get married to one of his Business Partner's sons, her dad insists that Toph has a man helping her run the Factories. And he also said that she didn't have time to wait for you and your incompetence."

"And…she just took it? She just gave in?"

"Sokka! Her dad is_ going to die_! What's she _supposed_ to do? Deny him of his dying wish?!"

"But I was _going to_ propose!"

Suki rolled her eyes, "When? Next year?"

"The day she broke up with me." He said softly.

He groaned and sat his head down on the bar. "What am I going to do Suki?"

She hesitated for a moment, and then asked quietly, "Do you really love her?"

"I was going to propose! Of course I love her." He moaned.

"Well, then I guess, First of all you're going to stop talking to me."

He groaned again. "Second?"

"I suppose that you should go get your love back."


	2. Part 2

An Engagement Ring

**Summary: ** Sokka and Suki have been best friends since the start. Suki has always loved Sokka, but he's in love with Toph. When Toph unexpectedly breaks up with Sokka, will Suki confess or help him get Toph back? AU, Two-shot

**NOTICE!!! **RE-READ THE FIRST PART PLEASE. IT'S TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, I DID A **_MAJOR OVERHAUL_** WHEN I CHANGED UP THE PLOT TO FOCUS MORE ON SUKI THAN ON THE TOKKA. AND I ALSO TOOK OUT THE LYRICS AND CHANGED THE TITLE... SORRY FOR THE MISCONVIENCE, BUT YOU LOVE ME ANYWAYS! =)

ATLA

He slowly lifted his head from the bar; "I'm going to… what now?"

"Sokka. I believe you said, "You're a girl. You should know." And here's what I know. You and Toph… you're like, well, its cliché, but like peanut butter and jelly. You go well together."

Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance as Sokka's head hit the bar once more, "Of _course._ Come on Suki, really?? You used to be smarter than this."

"Oh don't worry Sokka," Her eyes scanning the air, thinking. "Still am."

Suddenly, her eyes snapped shut, then open seconds later. She grabbed his wrist and began pulling him out of the building, "Let's go."

Sokka's steps were staggered as they roamed through the people, heading towards the exit. Just outside the bar, Sokka clutched his stomach and hurled.

"Awesome," Suki made a face, and helped him steady.

She looked from the man at her side, to the barf on the ground and sighed, making her way to the car. "Sokka. I told you not to get wasted, but did you listen to me? Naw, you just kept drinking, and what do we have now? A heartbroken, drunk man slung over his lovesick friend's shoulder, on his way to reclaim his heartbroken ex-girlfriend. And at this time, I should be saying, 'It can't get any worse', but then it would. And now what am I doing. I'm not making this any better by talking to myself…"

Suki blew at a stray piece of hair. She dug Sokka's car keys out of his pocket, and then shoved him into the backseat.

She hopped into the driver's seat and slammed the door. As she started the engine, rain began to pour down on the parking lot in thick, fat globs of pond-smelling water.

"See Sokka?" She said happily as they pulled out, "I was smart for not saying that, otherwise it would've jinxed us. We'd be _soaking wet_ right now."

XXXX

"Dammit!" Suki cried as she kicked her flat, muddy tire. "What the _hell!_" She tipped her head up towards the sky, and yelled, "Really? Really! What did I do to deserve this? _I _try to help him, and _I_ get the shit. I should've KNOWN! This… you! It doesn't mean _anything!?_ That I've loved him since day 1, and I'm STILL trying to help him get Toph back!?!? I want him to be happy, and in doing that, I'm sacrificing MYSELF and it means NOTHING?"

Lightning struck down just feet from her.

Suki fell to her knees and screamed. She screamed and screamed. Her throat hurt, her eyes were ablaze from tears and she couldn't take it anymore. She just _couldn't. take it._

She opened the car door and slapped Sokka across the face as hard as she could. Sokka sat up with a start, and his nose slammed into Suki's.

He stayed like that, his nose touching hers, looking directly into her fire-filled eyes.

He hesitated. Then whispered, "You… don't look too good."

His breath was hot on her face, his lips so close to hers she could practically _taste_ him.

"Goddammit." She said through clenched teeth. She squeezed her eyes shut, but still ran out. the tears

She pulled her head back, and yanked his car keys out of her jeans pocket.

He scrambled out of the vehicle and hesitantly moved towards Suki.

She threw the keys at him violently, "Here! Take them! Take the car, go get Toph and get OUT! Get out of my life, and get out of my HEAD!"_  
_He rubbed his arm and picked the keys out of a mud puddle, "Suki. I don't get what you're saying. I-" He winced from his alcohol side effects and steadied himself against the car.

"Obviously! You don't get what I'm _thinking _either! Do you know how long I waited!?"

"How long… you waited …for what?"  
"For YOU!"

The world spun beneath his feet, but it was unclear if it was from the alcohol or the revelation. "Me?" He managed to squeak out.

"Sokka," Her voice lowered, "You have no idea how blind you are. NO idea. I've sat in the shadows, being a true friend, a _best friend_, hoping one day you'd see me as more and return my feelings. And then you met Toph and my fantasies shattered. You two were all over each other all the time, and what was I supposed to do? Be a pal, and forget my feelings, telling myself that you were happy and that's all that matters." She laughed in a distraught, and strained way, "Yeah, Some joke that was. I still loved you. I still do. I'm still an idiot and, hell, why I'm talking to you now, I don't know. But I do, and I am."

"I… I don't know what to say. I never knew."

She forced out that laugh again, "Yeah? Well, great. Now you do. I'm going to walk home; I can't be near you right now. I need to think about some things. Go get Toph, you don't need my help."

As she turned on her heels, Sokka grabbed her shoulder. "Suki… wait. Take my jacket at least, so you're not… ya know, cold."

She grabbed it and lazily slung over her shoulders. She looked up at him, her looking directly into his eyes, him scanning her face for a hint of… what? What was he looking for? Forgiveness? The hurt? He didn't know.

They looked at each other like this for a short moment, then as she turned to try and go again, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

She was stiff, but then eased into the hug, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.

His fingers were bent into a loose fist as he rubbed the back of her head with his thumb, desperate for her mercy, her acceptance of his relationship with Toph. Desperate for his close friendship back, desperate for her to _stay_, to forgive.

As her tears ran dry, Suki knew it had to end. This wasn't helping anything. She whispered, "Sokka. I'm sorry." And shoved him away with all her might.

He collided with the car behind him, and by the time he picked himself up off the ground, she was gone.

**XXXX**_  
_

_  
_Sokka did end up taking Suki's advice. He went and saw Toph that night, speaking with both the young heiress and her father.

He convinced the elderly gentleman that he was actually quite knowledgeable, and that he was willing to learn, and could give his daughter something very valuable, his love.

But, as Sokka was mid-kneel, he discovered he didn't have the engagement ring. And to make matters worse, he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where he put it. Frazzled, but trying to hide it, he assured them that it would turn up.

It never did though, and just like Suki, it appeared to be long gone.

Sokka never did see Suki again, but on his birthday, the next year, the doorbell rang.

Sitting on the front porch, was his muddy jacket from that rainy night, the engagement ring still in the pocket.

**XXXX**

**A/N:**** Even though it's not what it was meant to be, and I totally changed it, I FREAKING LOVE IT!**

**My favorite one-shot to date.**

**Reviews please.**

**-Mandi (Toruh)**


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